Rush and Malloy’s Gossip column in the New York Daily News reports today that Bill Clinton’s offices are infested with bed bugs, and employees have been evacuated during treatment:

Bedbugs have sent Bill Clinton and his staff fleeing the former President’s offices, a source tells us. No word on whether WJC actually has a bed in his Harlem suite, but the infestation is said to have been so bad that exterminators told Clintonistas to take a few days off.

That’s all we know so far.

I do not wish bed bugs on anyone, but one positive outcome is that high profile bed bug infestations like this one (and the current one at Penguin) raise people’s awareness about the spread of bed bugs and about the possibility that any location really can become infested with bed bugs.

An infested set of offices in Harlem is not an isolated incident; bed bugs may have come to Clinton’s offices via someone’s infested home, or through the walls from an infested neighbor, via someone visiting the offices, or someone else’s commute to work.

I truly hope Clinton and his staffers are able to become educated and impassioned enough about bed bugs to help address the problem somehow in a bigger way, or at the very least that they are motivated to tell everyone what bed bugs are really like.

I suspect this incident will simply be fodder for political jokes, but let’s hope for more consciousness raising, shall we?

See: Side Dish: Bill Clinton’s bedbug battle.

Update (8/25): our own anonymous source tells us that Clinton’s offices are not the only ones in the building with bed bugs.Similar Posts:

• Air America Offices being inspected for bed bugs?
• Saatchi and Saatchi New York offices infested with Bed Bugs
• Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite Act of 2009: new and improved
• 160-unit Richmond, California complex evacuated for tent fumigation of bed bugs
• Scholastic Headquarters treated for bed bugs; update on Penguin

Gawker broke the story today that Penguin’s offices are infested with bed bugs (see: We Know Which Publisher’s Office Has Bedbugs).

Gawker’s readers have apparently not learned much about bed bugs — even after the same blog broke the Marie Claire bed bug infestation story last year.

Instead of “Bed bugs at work?  It happens,” the Gawker commenters more often hit the same note as “Social Crimer,” who asks,

So you don’t need a bed to have bedbugs?

No, you certainly don’t!

The New York Observer picked up the Gawker story and ran with it, interviewing our friend Lou Sorkin (of the American Museum of Natural History) and Jennifer Erdogan of Bell Environmental (a New Jersey pest control firm) about the possibilities for the books present at the Penguin building being infested (it’s possible, but not a given, was the upshot of this discussion).

They also talked about possible and likely weekend procedures, since Penguin employees were told to vacate the building at 1 p.m. today and not return until Monday, as the Observer reported:

What exactly are the pest control people going to do when they take over 345 Hudson this weekend? We read our experts the staff memo, which asked everyone to leave their “office doors, files, and desks unlocked,” “leave in place any items that have not been recently used, rather than take them home,” and “make accessible the perimeter of your office/cubicle as much as possible.”

Sorkin and Erdogan speculated the weekend might include inspections using canine scent detection teams, and either targeted or extensive spray treatments.

Meanwhile, the New York Magazine Intelligencer also has a bed bug story today which does not reference the Penguin story.  The Intelligencer apparently moves in much more bed bug-aware circles than the Gawker commenters:

On a scale of one to ten, how much anxiety do you feel when you contemplate bedbug exposure? (You know, when you stay in a hotel, buy anything from a stoop sale or flea market, sit on a friend’s couch, or walk past a Salvation Army store?) Most New Yorkers are constantly at 8 or 9, sizing up even their most well-groomed friends with paranoid suspicion.

And here I was thinking that was just those of us who had had an encounter with Mr. Cimex Lectularius.

Is it really true that most New Yorkers are in a high state of fear and paranoia about bed bugs?

My own friends don’t seem to be.

I even have friends who have had bed bugs and still aren’t.

I am not one to encourage people to fear and paranoia.  Caution and a good dose of precautions is more my style.

For example, learning how to search a hotel room for bed bugs, avoiding stoop sales and trash picked items, having a good look at the theater seat in the light, and inspecting one’s purse carefully rather than plopping it down on the bed after visiting a friend.

I also try to strike a balance between educating others (”Can we just put our luggage in the bathtub while I quickly check the room for signs of bed bugs?  It just takes five minutes…”) and being discreet enough to not sound like I’m completely paranoid; between being cautious, and enjoying life to the fullest.

So that makes me wonder — for those of you post-bed bugs, or who never had them — how worried are your friends about bed bugs? What are they doing, if anything,  to avoid them?

And are they more worried about bed bugs, or are they more concerned about you being worried about bed bugs?Similar Posts:

• Scholastic Headquarters treated for bed bugs; update on Penguin
• The Sun reports Edinburgh hotel guests “flee bed bug horror”
• Saatchi and Saatchi New York offices infested with Bed Bugs
• Madison Avenue Appellate Division courthouse infested with bed bugs
• Room for Debate on bed bugs: a must-read!

Gawker reports a rumor that the Marie Claire offices in the Hearst building have been infested with bed bugs; a Gawker tipster said:

“Marie Claire magazine in the brand new hearst tower was infested by bed bugs on Friday, courtesy of a fashion intern. employees in the affected area were sent home on Friday.
Over the weekend, total fumigation of the floor. Will it appear in the reality show they’ve been filming up there?!”

Gawker said the whole office was told bed bugs were brought in by an intern.

I am fascinated by such claims, since it is very hard to establish how bed bugs got into a particular space.

I am also fascinated that in workplace scenarios, it always seems to be a lowly staffer who is blamed as the “source”.

Bed bugs don’t discriminate: I hear pricey coops are among the most bed bug-infested buildings in the city.

Thanks to the reader who pointed me to Gawker today.Similar Posts:

None Found

Channel 3 in Waterbury, Connecticut reported today,

There’s a lot wrong in that statement alone, let alone the report that follows.

First, check your children?!?

Bed bugs do not live on children. They are not like lice.

They may be carried briefly in clothing or harbor in bags.

But they primarily live in places: in beds, chairs or other furniture, in floors and walls. The child picked bed bugs up somewhere: could it be home? School? In a friend’s home, relative’s home, afterschool care? Restaurant? Public transportation? On the school bus right before he came to school? It could be anywhere.

Home is a likely source but not the only one by any means.

So what you need to check, or carefully inspect, or better yet have a professional (who is experienced with bed bugs) carefully inspect, is the physical environment the child lives in, goes to school in, and otherwise spends time in.

Second, the news report says bed bugs are the “size of a poppy seed and range in color from white to dark red.” Not quite accurate.

Bed bugs have five nymphal (pre-adult) life stages and one adult life stage. The smallest nymphs are 1/32 inch (1 mm) — as long as the thickness of a credit card. But adults are closer to 1/6 inch (6 mm) or a bit larger than an apple seed. And they will be more on the rusty-brown side of the color spectrum. Only the youngest nymphs will be “white” or translucent, or blood-red if just fed.

Third,

Health officials said that bed bugs can be removed from clothing by putting them in the dryer for two cycles.

“Two cycles” is pretty vague and misses the important point about the temperature needed to kill bed bugs.

A very hot dryer (180 F) will kill bed bugs and eggs hidden inside a sock in 5 minutes, entomologist Dr. Michael Potter tells us. Other fabrics may take more time based on thickness or size, possibly much longer. But the dryer really must be hot. A cooler dryer (120 F) would take at least 1/2 hour or more once it reaches that temperature. I really don’t know what a standard US dryer heat is, nor how long a typical dryer cycle is. It is probably best to be as specific as possible under the circumstances.

Finally, when I hear stories like this, I want to know more about how school officials determined the bed bugs were coming from the child’s clothing or things.

Because if you simply found bed bugs on a child, they could also have crawled onto him from the immediate surroundings.

I really hope all the parents will learn about bed bugs and inspect their homes carefully. I also hope the family of this child will get help if their home is indeed infested, and that others will not treat them badly. Because even if he did bring bed bugs into school, it is not his fault.

Bed bugs can happen to anyone and should not be the source of shame. They are not caused by a lack of hygiene, but spread easily from one person to another. People who have them always, always caught them from someone else. It’s usually not really anyone’s fault.

Waterbury has apparently had lots of bed bug infestations.

And other schools have been dealing with this problem to varying degrees of success.Similar Posts:

None Found

The Bed Bug Registry turned up this interesting report today:

180 Queen St W
Toronto, ON M5V

Found 1 report:

Submitted by “Mate” on 10/23/2008

A bedbug outbreak occurred the week of Oct.13 in the 9th floor offices of Health Canada (i.e. Canada’s Department of Health). It is not known how the infestation started. Staff on the floor were sent home, and building management carried out carpet cleaning. The following week Health Canada management sent out an e-mail ensuring employees that the bedbugs had been eradicated, however on the morning of Oct. 22 employees of Health Canada were sent home because the bedbugs had spread to all floors 8, 9, 10 and 11 occupied by Health Canada. Building management is currently dealing with the infestation which as of yet has not spread to other floors housing Canada’s Federal Courts, along with MacKenzie Financial Corporation.

Is it true? Or does “Mate” have ulterior motives?

Anyone can report any building to the Bed Bug Registry at any time, erroneously or not, which is why the site owner Maciej Ceglowski invites readers to contact him if they wish to dispute reports. (See bottom of any page on the Bed Bug Registry to see this message and Maciej’s email.)

It’s impossible to know whether this is a legitimate report or not, without any evidence. And since “Mate” said an email was sent to employees, that evidence is surely out there. (When Above the Law reported on bed bugs in a well-known NYC law firm, they had a copy of a leaked memo.)

But this entry sure got my attention!

Hmm.

The internets can broadcast false alarms, but I have a hunch we’ll soon know if it was true or not.

Thanks to BugsInTO for the tip!

Health Canada’s Bed Bug Fact Sheet, February 2008

Update: Apparently, true. Reader Buggedout says it was on the CBC news at 6 on Friday 10/24. (See comments.)Similar Posts:

None Found

This time it’s Cravath, Swaine, and Moore, according to legal tabloid Above the Law. Apparently Cravath are trying to one-up Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft, who Above the Law claimed had bed bugs in June, and again in October.

Above the Law claims,

1. An email was sent around Cravath last week about the presence of bed bugs at the firm.
2. A few bedbugs were found on two floors, the 21st floor and the 41st floor, which are being fumigated.
3. Two employees had bedbugs in their apartments and told the firm, which caused the firm to investigate.
4. The 21st floor is a paralegal / administration floor, but the 41st floor is a litigation floor — which means that one of the two employees may be a lawyer.
6. Both of the employees are still with the firm (i.e., they have not been fired, like the poor soul at Cadwalader who, rumor has it, got canned after self-reporting).
7. The email about the bed bug problem was protected against forwarding or copying.

Apparently ATL did not do so well at math, as they left out #5. (I bet they billed for it anyway!)

But we’ll forgive them, since this is pretty juicy stuff they’re dishing.

Anyway, I would not blame those in the NYC legal profession for getting a bit nervous, seeing two of their bright stars come down with bed bugs. But let’s face it: any type of workplace or residence can become home to bed bugs.

Educating employees on what to watch out for, at home and at work, would be a good idea.

Here’s a hint: developing a workplace policy that says people who tell you they have bed bugs at home won’t get sacked might mean employees are more forthcoming.Similar Posts:

None Found

Someone claimed there were bed bugs in the VIP couch at Fox News’s Manhattan studios in November of 2006. After we followed up, the source claimed she was told this by a Fox producer. That sounded plausible enough, but still, just a rumor.

Then, a year later, in November 2007, someone else claimed there were bed bugs in the Fox newsroom. This second rumor was circulated by mediabistro blogger TVNewser.

Now a Fox executive has told the New York Times that they just recently discovered they had bed bugs in their newsroom, that they have been treated and are gone:

In an interview on Monday, Warren Vandeveer, senior vice president for operations and engineering at Fox News, said the cable channel had realized it had a problem a few weeks ago, when an employee “caught a bug and showed it to us.” An exterminator determined that the incursion was limited to a “very small area in the newsroom.”

The NYTimes claims Vanderveer told them that the problem was discovered “a few weeks ago,” the exterminator’s treatment ended “about a week ago,” and the bed bugs are now “totally eradicated.” If that timeline of detection and treatment is accurate, many experts might say it is too soon to say for sure that the problem is “totally eradicated.”

As for how long ago Fox has had a bed bug problem, is it true that bed bugs only first appeared in the Fox newsroom “a few weeks ago”? Or were they only first verified then?  Were they also there in November 2007 as per TVNewer’s tip? (TVNewser claimed the newsroom was getting pest control treatment last November.) Did TVNewser get faulty information? And were any bed bugs in Fox News in November 2006 as Claudia’s source claimed?

If the 2006 and/or 2007 rumors of bed bugs at Fox were incorrect, it’s a pretty big coincidence that the only station that we’ve heard rumored to be infested with bed bugs — twice — later became infested with bed bugs.

Vanderveer also apparently told the New York Times that

. . . the source of the bugs was not determined until the exterminator inspected the homes of about 20 employees. Mr. Vandeveer said the exterminator later described one employee’s home as having “the worst infestation he had seen in 25 years in the business.”

This raised all kinds of questions in my mind, but foremost in my mind is this one: did Fox insist all newsroom employees had their homes searched, or did they volunteer?

Finding that one employee has a serious, serious bed bug infestation may seem like a smoking gun to Fox, but it actually doesn’t in itself prove the employee brought them in to work (rather than someone else doing so).  I grant that it is highly likely.

But still: what if the home where bed bugs was found was not the worst case PCOs had found in 25 years? In that hypothetical case, would it be fair to link bed bugs to an employee whose home was found to have them? What kind of evidence is needed to verify such a connection? Even if every company employee’s home was searched, which does not seem to be the case here, could such a connection be proven?

Gawker claims to have gotten a tip alleging that the person who brought the bed bugs in was subsequently fired. (Gothamist asks, “Is that even legal?”)

This is the second time we’ve heard an employee was allegedly fired for bringing bed bugs to work. The first we heard of was at Cadwalader.

I am very glad for those who work at Fox that the bed bug infestation was detected and treated. I hope that the treatment which began only a few weeks ago continues until everyone really is certain.Similar Posts:

None Found

It was just over a year ago when a journalist claimed a reliable source told her of bed bugs infesting the midtown Manhattan offices of Fox News. The allegation was that the infestation “originated on the VIP couch,” a tidbit which might be apocryphal, but is too good to pass up.

Still, I was skeptical (you can’t believe everything you read, especially on the internets, etc.), but then Claudia followed up with the comment on my post, with:

That’s what my producer friend there says. I believe him.

And, Dear Reader, at that point I believed her.

But we heard no more news of bed bugs at Fox News (NYC) until today, when this came down the pipeline. Another “rumor” passed on by another person working in the media, this time Chris Ariens at The Huffington Post, who wrote yesterday:

TVNewser has learned that a small area of the Fox News Channel newsroom has evidence of insects believed to be bed bugs. What is not known is how the insects got into the basement-level newsroom of the News Corp. headquarters. Most likely, an employee or guest unknowingly transported the poppy seed-sized bugs on their clothing, which then made their way into the fabric or carpeting.

Or, possibly even more likely: since another part of what I assume is the same building was allegedly battling bed bugs a year ago, they were not entirely eradicated and have come back. They can spread from one part of a building to another, as may have happened at Cadwalader’s office building.

Since this kind of resurgence happens all the time with individuals in their homes, even when people go to extreme lengths to avoid it, I do not doubt it can happen in an office, where it’s less likely items will have been quarantined and searched as carefully as can be.

Or maybe the “source(s)” of the bed bugs keep coming back and reinfesting the place.

Hint to FoxNews: if “a small area” has evidence of bed bugs, a larger area may indeed be affected. I’d keep looking.

Update 11/19:

This is the original TVNewser post. It says an exterminator was brought in late last week and “those who sit near there have been alerted to take precautionary measures including sending their clothes to the dry cleaner.” Hmmmm.
Similar Posts:

• Access-A-Ride offices in Long Island City infested with bed bugs
• Air America Offices being inspected for bed bugs?
• Fox employee suing building management, maintenance over bed bug bites
• Gale Brewer invites bedbuggers to her annual open house
• AgencySpy reports “there may be bed bugs at MediaVest”

More information about the Bracken County Schools bed bug situation. A new article from WCPO.com news says T&M Pest Control is treating Bracken County schools for bed bugs this weekend.

Terry says, “A pest control program for bed bugs is very detailed. You’ve got to get all the crevices. We are doing a little more than we really need to, but it’s to make sure we don’t have a problem in the future.”

That means Terry’s son, Tony, has to bag contents of every locker in the school, and then spray those contents with an insecticide.

Tony and his mother are wearing only gloves now, but when the heavy fumigation gets underway, they’ll be wearing face masks, too.

I am interested in these methods, since I have not heard PCOs here talking about spraying into bags of belongings. Perhaps a PCO would tell us what this might be.

I initially thought it was a good thing that Bracken County Schools were taking bed bugs seriously after finding a bed bug in school, since cities like New York City are so slow to take action against similar situations. My initial positive sense was based on Bracken County’s willingness to treat schools for bed bugs. I thought that their treatment of every school in the district was based on a sense that bed bugs must be more widespread than in just this one school.

Now, however, I am becoming more concerned about the community’s response, especially their apparent obsession with pinpointing its source. It betrays a lack of education about bed bugs and their behavior, which appears to be a prevalent problem elsewhere too.

Parents in Brooksville are divided about the schools closing an extra day just for bed bugs.

Elizabeth Aulick, a mother of two Bracken County students says, “Yeah, it does concern me, but the letter I got said they only found one bug. If it’s one bug isolated to one child, keep him home for a few days.”

A mother of three Bracken County students, including one at the Middle School says, “I guess it’s a little unexpected. I never expected something like this, but I guess it’s a good thing. Just to be on the safe side. It didn’t both me, I said, ‘Well, that’s fine.’”

The school fumigation in Bracken County is getting the full support of the county health department there.

I am glad the health department in Bracken County recognizes bed bugs as a concern, since many don’t. However, I have to say that what’s being said about the child in this case is absurd.

People in Bracken County must not associate the schools’ bed bug issue, if they indeed have one, with this one student who may have had the bed bug on his things or on his clothing. Bed bugs can live and breed in schools or in school buses or public transportation, and they can crawl onto students at any of these locations (as well as many others). As we have taken pains to explain in the past, the presence of a bed bug on a person or their things absolutely does not prove the person brought the bed bug in.

All parents, including those of the child who was bitten by the bed bug, must search at home and have a qualified PCO inspect if anyone is complaining of bites or if they see any bed bugs or possible signs. However, it is crucial that parents and school officials realize that bed bugs are not lice, and do not live on people. They crawl on, feed, and run away. If a bed bug is found on a person in a school, it does not mean the person brought the bed bug to the school.

I would assume the Bracken County School officials know this, since they are treating every school, and not just the one the bed bug was found in. And yet it does not sound like the parents or media have been picking up on that fact.

If the child did indeed have had an infestation at home and brought them into the school, then his family, too, caught them from somewhere. They spread easily. And everyone should be alert. Everyone should be asking where this family might have picked up bed bugs: parents’ workplace? YMCA? School? Bus? Motel? Because where they got them, you can get them too.

However, the child should not be blamed, nor should he be kept home. People with active infestations need to take some steps to avoid spreading bed bugs. Treating the child himself as if he were contagious is an ignorant mistake. Similar Posts:

None Found

The Bracken County, Kentucky, school system’s response was to shut down all schools for one day for precautionary treatment, after a bed bug was found in a classroom, Lex18 news reported yesterday.

Bracken County schools will be closed Friday after a middle school student was found to have an infestation of bed bugs, and one of the bugs was found in a classroom.

Bracken County Schools Superintendent Tony Johnson said in a release Thursday that the health department was contacted after the discovery, and that the schools will be closed in order to perform pest control treatments in each school as a precaution.

NBC WLWT5.com says that the school is being closed today, but that Monday and Tuesday were already scheduled as days off. Still, this gives schools more time to do their work. WLWT also adds:

Health department officials will oversee measures intended to prevent the spread of bedbugs, and the student will receive treatment, officials said.

This is interesting: it does not say the child’s parents will be directed to get treatment. It implies they may be taking care of it.

The most interesting thing here is that they found one bed bug, in one school, but they are treating them all. Oh, and they’re talking about it. The New York City Department of Education could learn a thing or two from them about how to deal with bed bugs.

More than a year ago, one of the first posts on this blog suggested that Lexington, KY was taking bed bugs more seriously than New York City. The same could definitely now also be said of Bracken County.

But is Bracken County’s response too enthusiastic? Is this overkill?
Similar Posts:

None Found